Dramatic Arts

Dramatic Arts is the department in charge of managing the organizational and administrative aspects necessary for the implementation of the plans, programs and projects of the district policy, aimed at the training, research, creation, circulation and appropriation of dramatic arts. Its mission is to guarantee the conditions for the development of practices in this field, in any of its dimensions. In order to optimize resources and core mission actions, the Bogotá Theater and Circus Plan was designed as an instrument for the comprehensive planning of the area, which covers the construction, management, implementation, monitoring and improvement of programs and projects aimed at the promotion and development of drama and circus presentations. This plan seeks to establish coordinated, complementary, collaborative, concerted and co-responsible actions for the benefit of artists, and through their disciplinary work, for the benefit of citizens.

The Bogotá Theater and Circus Plan is structured in four lines of action, two cross-cutting strategies and two cross-cutting actions, which include the interests, potentialities and approaches of the field. In this way, technical, economic, operational and human resources are optimized, fulfilling the core mission of the entity and the area in its commitment to citizens.

The four main lines of action are:

The City as a Stage

This line focuses on the projection and strengthening of the activities of circulation of theatrical and circus practices. Its objective is to generate conditions that strengthen circulation at the local, district, national and international levels, promoting festivals, meetings, circuits, premieres and other ways of bringing the results of creative processes to the public stage, relating them to citizens. It makes use of cultural infrastructures, alternative and unconventional spaces, generating processes of access, awareness, enjoyment, practice and artistic consumption through theater and circus, making the city of Bogotá a stage.

Knowledge and Memory

This line recognizes the value of the production, dissemination and transmission of knowledge of theatrical and circus practices and their contributions to the development of the field, strengthening training and research processes. It is also responsible for collecting and safeguarding the memory of the agents, processes and trajectories of dramatic art. It designs strategies and contents that make up a repository of the memory of the city’s theater and circus sector, through the Stage Experience Bank, guaranteeing the documentation of theatrical and circus practice as part of the collective memory of the people of Bogotá, integrating the voices of all generations.

Stage Experience

Through sectoral and inter-sectoral articulation actions with institutions, organizations, rural agents and communities, this line seeks to transform and redefine the sociocultural construction of the city and its contexts through theatrical and circus practice. It also recognizes the value of differentiated actions, with an emphasis on territorial processes.

Project the Scene

This line promotes actions aimed at the design and realization of artistic processes, products and experiences that promote the generation of new scenic repertoires for the city. It also promotes the generation of habits of art consumption, their appropriation and redefinition in interaction with the public. A relevant aspect of this line is the recognition of the value, work and contribution of the different roles and trades associated with staging, such as costume designers, lighting technicians, sound engineers, set designers, producers, managers and technicians, among others. Its objective is to strengthen the dimensions of creation and appropriation of the disciplines and practices of the performing field, as well as the trades that intervene in the staging of creative results. .

In addition, Idartes’ Dramatic Arts has a portfolio in the District Incentives Program, a strategy for the promotion of art, culture and heritage practices, which grants economic or in-kind resources through annual open calls, in order to promote proposals from individuals, groups and legal entities.

The District Program of Concerted Halls is also an initiative of the Bogotá Mayor’s Office implemented by Instituto Distrital de las Artes (Idartes), which is part of the strategies for the promotion of artistic practices and the strengthening of theater and circus halls. This program supports the work of creators, directors, actors, technicians and other people linked to the disciplines and trades of the field, guaranteeing citizens’ access to a permanent and high-quality artistic program, with a variety of genres, formats and aesthetic proposals, aimed at diverse audiences.

Finally, the District Program of Concerted Support promotes and supports the development of projects of private initiative and public interest, aligned with the current District Development Plan, and aimed at promoting and revitalizing artistic, cultural, heritage and citizen culture practices in the city of Bogotá.

For its part, the Festival de Teatro y Circo de Bogotá is organized by Idartes and is considered by experts as one of the most important platforms in the district performing arts market. Throughout its history, it has hosted 874 groups and brought together 5,271 artists, with an attendance of 79,938 spectators.

This is a metropolitan event that allows the city’s public to establish contact with new artistic proposals, becoming a stage that publicizes the work of artists and groups in the sector, and brings together the family around the theatrical and circus show.

For more information, visit www.bogotateatralycircense.gov.co